Unconventional Wind Turbines - Rooftop Wind-turbines

Rooftop Wind-turbines

Wind-turbines can be installed on the top of a roof of a building. This is not as common as may first be assumed. Some examples include Marthalen Landi-Silo in Switzerland, Council House 2 in Melbourne, Australia. Ridgeblade in the UK is like a vertical wind turbine on its side mounted on the apex of a pitched roof. While the Ridgeblade is still in the design stage another example like this, already available in France is the Aeolta AeroCube. Discovery Tower is an office building in Houston, Texas, that incorporates 10 wind turbines in its architecture.

The Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts began constructing a rooftop Wind Turbine Lab in 2009. The Lab will test nine wind turbines from five different manufacturers on the roof of the Museum. Rooftop wind turbines may suffer from turbulence, especially in cities, which reduces power output and accelerates turbine wear. The lab seeks to address the general lack of performance data for urban wind turbines.

Due to the structural limitations of buildings, the limited space in urban areas, and safety considerations, wind turbines mounted on buildings are usually small (with nameplate capacities in the low kilowatts), rather than the megawatt-class wind turbines which are most economical for wind farms. A partial exception is the Bahrain World Trade Centre with three 225 kW wind turbines mounted between twin skyscrapers.